The beneficial effects of employing auxiliary signaling assemblies have been disclosed in various U.S. Patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,005,724 and 6,076,948, the teachings of which are incorporated herein. Yet further, numerous designs for signaling assemblies having various types of semitransparent mirrors including dichroic and electrochromic mirrors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,014,167; 5,207,492; 5,355,284; 5,361,190; 5,481,409; 5,528,422; and 6,749,325 to name but a few. These numerous references are also incorporated by reference herein. Assemblies such as what is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,005,724 and 6,076,948 have been incorporated into other mirror assemblies such as electrochromic mirror assemblies as more fully shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,512,624 and 6,356,376. These numerous patents are also incorporated by reference herein. The teaching of these patents show that in addition to providing an auxiliary signaling device, such prior art assemblies may also include auxiliary lighting assemblies, which may be remotely actuated, in order to provide an exterior vehicle security light to aid and assist operators and passengers during night time hours. Examples of such assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,371,659 and 5,497,305 to name but a few. Additionally, an integral signaling assembly and device for illuminating an area adjacent to an overland vehicle is shown in application Ser. No. 10/741,748, and which was filed on Dec. 18, 2003. This pending application is also incorporated by reference herein.
While many of these prior art assemblies, as discussed above, have operated with a great deal of success and have enjoyed wide commercial acceptance, there are shortcomings with respect to the individual designs which have detracted from their commercial acceptance and perceived usefulness.
In recent years, some automotive platforms have presented challenges to the designers of these types of mirror assemblies in view of the fact that the exterior mirror housing and the space available within the mirror housing, has been reduced in size because of exterior platform design considerations. Consequently, while many of the teachings of the prior art patents work with a good degree of success, they also occupy a rather significant amount of the interior space of the mirror housing in order to be rendered operational. Further, some of these assemblies are very complex in their overall design which increases the cost of manufacturing. Moreover, each of these assemblies requires that an electrical conduit or “pigtail” be extended from same in order to be connected to the electrical system of the overland vehicle. In an exterior mirror application which utilizes an electrochromic mirror which automatically dims, or changes its reflectivity based upon the ambient lighting conditions, it will be understood that to provide a signaling assembly in combination with an electrochromic mirror may result in a tangle of electrical conduits all of which must be routed and connected to an appropriate electrical connector. This confusing array of electrical conduits, creates problems in view of the lack of available space in the housing, and further creates difficulties in the final assembly, manufacture and installation of the product.
Attempts have been made to reduce this complexity by providing various assemblies such as an integral heater and signaling assembly such as seen in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/355,915, the teachings of which are incorporated by reference herein. However, these arrangements have been less then ideal inasmuch as the process of affixing, light emitting diodes and other similar assemblies to such integral assemblies have resulted in unduly complex manufacturing processes. This approach has also provided a less then ideal arrangement with respect to the repair and replacement of such assemblies in the event that a subcomponent, such as a light emitting diode, fails during the lifetime of the product.
Therefore, a signaling assembly which addresses these and other shortcomings in the prior art assemblies is the subject matter of the present application.